Warning: Contains spoilers for IT: Welcome To Derry Episode 5
Fans of It: Welcome to Derry finally received exactly what they had been waiting for on Sunday, when Bill Skarsgård finally returned as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Episode 5 of the Stephen King series. After being teased for weeks, Pennywise was finally revealed after taking the form of Matty Clements, the child believed to have died in the show’s terrifying opening episode, and luring the new “Losers’ Club” into the sewers. It seems, though, that this is a plot twist that was almost used to kill off an original Losers’ Club member in It Chapter Two.
In Episode 5, It began to really take control of Derry, killing a wave of army soldiers, sending Dick Halloran into a nightmare, and terrorizing the latest group of kids to be on its snack list. After thinking that Matty had survived Pennywise once, the children were led into the sewers on a rescue mission to find Phil, another of the kids who appeared to have been killed early in the series. However, once in the sewers, the mask fell away, and it turned out that Matty was Pennywise all along.
According to co-creator and co-showrunner Jason Fuchs, this was a moment that was almost used in It: Chapter Two, and would have resulted in the death of original character Mike Hanlon. Fuchs told Decider:
“So when I was working on IT Chapter Two, there was a version of that script where Mike Hanlon — who has obviously been guiding our adult Losers the entire time — eventually takes them down into the sewers, takes them down into It’s sanctuary, where they find Mike Hanlon’s body. And you realize that the Mike Hanlon we were with the whole journey of IT Chapter Two was a manifestation of It.
We thought, “Oh, it’s just too much of a departure from the book. We want to be closer to where the story beats.” And so that went away. Then when we started talking about the journey of the show, and specifically Episode 5, I remember us talking and going, “Wait, this is an idea that might actually have found its time and its moment.” Matty as the guide, Matty in that context, makes a lot more sense.”
Pennywise’s Delayed Appearance Has Paid Off
It: Welcome to Derry has been resisting the urge to bring Skarsgård’s clown back to screens for more than half the series. With the It movies focusing a lot on the alien entity’s clown form, this time around, Andy and Barbara Muschietti wanted to show exactly how terrifying the creature can be when preying on the fears of its victims. This may have sidelined Pennywise, but for the Muschietti’s this made It “more like Jaws” and a real terrifying threat that is always just lingering under the surface, which resulted in a huge payoff when Pennywise finally made his first full appearance.
Instead of relying on the clown, the series has been littered with gruesome and ghoulish manifestations of the entity known as It. However, with three episodes to go, the clown is out of the box, and we can expect to see much more Pennywise as the show comes to a close. With great reviews and a constant presence at the top of the HBO Max chart, it is hard to imagine that we won’t be returning to Derry for at least one more season, which promises to dip even further into the past of Stephen King’s troubled town.
- Release Date
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October 26, 2025
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Andy Muschietti
- Franchise(s)
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IT
